In ancient Rome everyone in the elite had to serve a few years as an officer in a legion.
Surprisingly enough, the top US income quartile enlists at a higher rate than the bottom income quartile. There's a big list of things that disqualify recruits, not having basic literacy, no recent prison time, no high school dropouts, obesity standards, mental health standards, no marijuanas use, no children...
As for wall Street and conscription - they would find a way to get their sons out of this trouble I am sure.
But who conscripted them and dragged them off to war? Was it the politicians who decided to go to war? The "convincing" isn't necessary once it's reached critical mass
There were exemptions but it still seems a cruel form of gambling in a way.
There was a military draft in WW I:
>...By the end of World War I, some two million men volunteered for various branches of the armed services, and some 2.8 million had been drafted.
"It's a long way to tipperary"
Different medium, same outcome. Also a lot of yellow journalism.
It was just as bad before this
With WWI, how did the european powers manage to convince their civilians to go die in the trenches fighting a meaningless war? Or Vietnam in the US
The saying "if everyone jumped off the bridge..." is funny, because people will say it and forget what it means the moment everyone around them starts jumping off the bridge